The family of an unarmed black man who died hours after shocking footage emerged of a white police officer kneeling on his neck has said that merely firing the four cops involved is “not enough.” Protests erupted in Minneapolis on Tuesday after George Floyd, 46, died in police custody. The four officers were terminated Tuesday following the uproar over Floyd’s death. In an interview with TMX.news, Shareeduh Tate and Tera Brown—Floyd’s cousins—said the firings will not bring an end to the matter. “My initial response is, I mean, that’s a start. It’s definitely not enough,” Tate said. “I’m glad it didn’t take forever to see what everybody else can clearly see what took place, and that’s that they murdered our cousin.” Tate said she saw the video before she knew it was Floyd who was being pinned down. “I just remember thinking how devastating this would be for the family who had lost a family member like this, and that everybody could clearly see it, and then maybe five minutes after that I got the phone call letting me know that it was actually my cousin,” she said. The victim’s brother, Philonise Floyd, told CNN: “They could have tased him, they could have maced him, instead they put their knee in his neck and just sat on him and then carried on,” adding “They treated him worse than they treat animals.”
